Anisotropic Exchange Effects in Temperature and Pressure Dependences of EPR Zero-Field Splitting in [(C(6)H(5))(3)(n-propyl)P](2)Cu(2)Cl(6).

X-band single-crystal and powder EPR data were collected in the temperature range 4.2-300 K and under hydrostatic pressure up to 500 MPa for [(C(6)H(5))(3)(n-propyl)P](2)Cu(2)Cl(6) (C(42)H(44)P(2)Cu(2)Cl(6)). The crystal and molecular structure have been determined from X-ray diffraction. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n (Z = 2) and have unit cell dimensions of a = 9.556(5) Å, b= 17.113(3) Å, c = 13.523(7) Å, and beta = 96.10(4) degrees. The structure consists of two controsymmetric Cu(2)Cl(6)(2)(-) dimers well separated by complex anions. EPR spectra are typical for the triplet S = 1 state of Cu(2)Cl(6)(2)(-) dimer with parameters g(x)() = 2.114(8), g(y)() = 2.095(8), g(z)() = 2.300(8), and D(x)() = 0.025(1) cm(-)(1), D(y)() = 0.057(1) cm(-)(1), and D(z)() = -0.082(1) cm(-)(1) at room temperature. The D tensor is dominated by a contribution from anisotropic exchange but the dipole-dipole Cu-Cu coupling is not much less. The anisotropic exchange integrals were estimated to be as follows: J(xy,x)()()2(-)(y)()()2(an) = -45 cm(-)(1), J(xy,xy)()(an) = +17 cm(-)(1), J(xy,yz)()(an) = +62 cm(-)(1). The D tensor components are strongly temperature dependent and linearly increase on cooling with an anomalous nonlinear behavior below 100 K. The D values increase linearly with pressure, but the effect is much smaller than the temperature effect. This suggests that the D vs T dependence is dynamical in origin. EPR data, a possible mechanism, and contributions to the observed dependences are discussed and compared to EPR results for similar compounds.